Bøker i Suspensions: Contemporary Middle Eastern and Islamicate Thought-serien

Originally published: London: Continuum, 2013.

The Politics of Writing Islam provides a much-needed critique of existing forms of studying, writing and representing Islam in the West. Through critiquing ethnographic, literary, critical, psychoanalytic and theological discourses, the author reveals the problematic underlying cultural and theoretical presuppositions.

From the domains of contemporary Middle Eastern literature, this book stages a conversation on questions of cruelty, evil, rage, vengeance, madness, and deception. It forms a record of voices, movements, and thought - experiments drawn from the inner circles of the Middle Eastern region.

In this significant new work in African philosophy, Christopher Wise explores deconstruction''s historical indebtedness to Egypto-African civilization and its relevance in Islamicate Africa today. He does so by comparing deconstructive and African thought on the spoken utterance, nothingness, conjuration, the oath or vow, occult sorcery, blood election, violence, circumcision, totemic inscription practices, animal metamorphosis and sacrifice, the Abrahamic, fratricide, and jihad. Situated against the backdrop of the Ansar Dine''s recent jihad in Northern Mali, Sorcery, Totem and Jihad in African Philosophy examines the root causes of the conflict and offers insight into the Sahel''s ancient, complex, and vibrant civilization. This book also demonstrates the relevance of deconstructive thought in the African setting, especially the writing of the Franco-Algerian philosopher Jacques Derrida.

Islamism as Philosophy explores some of the philosophical assumptions that frame the way in which the rise of Muslim political identity throughout the planet presents challenges which are not only cultural and geopolitical but also conceptual. In a series of reflections, this book teases out some of the complexities of the emergence of Muslim political identities, complexities which are often covered up by the latest screaming headline. The book argues that a world in which a quarter of the population seems increasingly conscious of its "Muslimness" cannot be peaceful, harmonious or just without careful attention being paid to the Muslim question. Islamism as Philosophy's argues that an increasing consciousness of the Muslim is neither superficial nor transitory and as such requires rigorous and serious consideration. If the Muslim Awakening is a wave of world historical import akin to the emergence of nationalism in the 19th and 20th century, then the choices that present themselves are either to try and roll back the tide or learn to surf.